Week commencing 22 February 2016

In today's bulletin

• Building charity launches online housing resource for communities
• New build homes at highest level since before housing crisis

• High Speed Rail’s final report released
• Doubts cast on ‘Dash for Gas’ usefulness

Property, Planning and Regeneration

Coastal communities set to benefit from over 100 economic plans

On Monday 22 February, coastal communities from across the country submitted economic plans to boost growth and employment in their areas. More than 100 plans were submitted and included a proposed new

history centre in Plymouth, a high street redesign in Scarborough and a town “rebrand” for Folkestone.

Building charity launches online housing resource for communities

The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community launched a new online housing toolkit on Monday 22 February. ‘Beauty In My Back Yard’ (or BIMBY) is designed to help communities influence the quality and aesthetic of new

developments in their area. It has so far received support from HRH the Prince of Wales and the housing minister Brandon Lewis MP.

New build homes at highest level since before housing crisis

Construction began on more than 143,500 new homes last year, with latest figures up 23 per cent on the same quarter in 2014 and almost double the industry low point of 2009. Statistics released on Thursday also showed

that completions rose by 21 per cent, putting both starts and completions at their highest level since 2008.

House prices across UK see annual increase

Data released by the Land Registry’s House Price Index on 26 February showed an annual average price increase of 7.1 per cent putting the average cost of a home in England and Wales at £191,812. London saw the

greatest gains with a 13.9 per cent rise while house prices in the North East increased by only 0.2 per cent.

Residential planning approvals make strong recovery in Q3

According to a report by Glenigan, residential planning approvals in the third quarter of 2015 made a good recovery; up 12 per cent. The number of approved units was nine per cent higher than in 2014 and corresponded with a rise in approvals in both the private and social housing sector.

The size of approved projects also increased, with schemes of 10 or more units accounting for 85 per cent of consented applications.

Transport

High Speed Rail’s final report released

The High Speed Rail Bill Select Committee published its final report on Monday 22 February, after two years and 1,600 petitions against the bill.The report recommends amendments to the discretionary compensation

scheme, noise mitigating measures at Wendover and a long Chilterns tunnel. The next stage for the report is to be examined by the House of Commons and the Department for Transport.

Joe Anderson, the Mayor of Liverpool, has offered £2 billion toward the cost of High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) if the government sends high speed trains to the city. With HS2 planned to directly link Manchester and Leeds to London, via

Birmingham, Liverpool’s leaders are worried the city will be left behind its northern counterparts and could seriously harm George Osborne’s plans for a “northern powerhouse”, unless it’s incorporated in the proposals.

Government fails to set example for integrated transport plan

The Transport Committee has published a report into transport links to UK airports. The report has blamed the lack of leadership in strategic planning for Heathrow and Gatwick for holding up plans for improved rail and road links to the nations other airports. The Committee has urged

the Government to create an integrated transport plan to improve links to regional airports and in turn boost economic development in the regions.

UK oil production jumps for first time in over a decade

UK oil production jumped significantly for the first time since 1999, according to the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s 2015 energy statistics. Other headlines included a seven per cent jump for low-carbon generation

(to 43% of supply) and a one percent fall in primary energy consumption, a 10th annual fall in a row.